New Asus laptop constantly dropping Wireless connection

I recently purchased my daughter an Asus laptop (ASUS X551CA 15.6" Laptop - Black (Intel Pentium 2117U/ 750GB HDD/ 8GB RAM/ Windows 8). The laptop is great but has a problem with staying connected to the wireless router ASUS RT-N66U in the house. It drops its connection every hour or so, sometimes staying connected for a few hours and other times dropping the connection every 1/2 hour. I have 20 devices connected to the router that have no issues and have tried everything. I took the laptop in for servicing and they did a firmware upgrade, but that didn't solve anything. The laptop had no issue when it was windows 8.0, but as soon as I upgraded to 8.1 it started dropping the connection. I am at a loss as what could be wrong. I can reconnect right away when the connection drops, but it is annoying with a new laptop. I have tried to relocate the laptop and it even drops the connection when sitting next to the router. Wired it works fine, but wireless has issues. I have searched the internet and tried different things. Any advice or help would be appreciated.

While the ASUS support site for your model only lists a LAN update for Win 8.1 from Win 8.0 - have you checked the wireless adapter manufacturer's site to see if the Win 8 driver also covers Win 8.1 and reinstalling the driver could also help.

While you shouldn't have to do this, have you tried assigning the wireless adapter TCP/IPv4 Properties with a static IP address outside of the DHCP range to see if that makes any difference.

I did check the wireless adapter for updates and it said it was up to date, I am beginning to think it may be a hardware issue. As for changing the wireless broadcast channel, I'm not sure where that setting is.

I'd added a bit to my last post regarding a static IP, but if you just asked Device Manager to check for driver updates, that's the usual response and it may well be the latest driver but I would still go to the manufacturer's site for a reinstall with upgrading the OS.

As it was fine under Win 8.0 then it's not likely to be a power thing, but if you go into Device Manager/Network adapters and right click on the wireless one and select Properties - under the Power Management tab ensure that the box to allow the computer to turn off the device to save power is unchecked.

If you do reinstall the driver, then you may have to repeat that.

The channel change is a router wireless setting, but if no other machine is affected, then it's not likely to be that or local interference from within the home when you've tried different locations, but downloading inSSIDer will show if there's any serious channel overlap from other users.

I think you may have a driver issue and I experienced precisely the same situation with my Toshiba laptop when going from Windows 8.0 to Windows 8.1. Windows 8.1 drivers are to blame, in my opinion. I am not sure whether the new update to Windows 8.1 will fix it, but I would try.

The solution for me was to buy an external USB adapter, to use a wired lan connection, when I am at home. This was the only way to stop losing network access every few minutes.

Over the past few weeks, I have tried everything Asus sent me, even reset the bios, reinstalled the drivers etc. I did go to the wireless adapter website and checked to make sure the drive is current. I removed and recreated that wireless connection etc. I am ready to get rid of this laptop. My daughter needs it for university and it just disconnects all the time. Want to mention that wired is ok.

Over the past few weeks, I have tried everything Asus sent me, even reset the bios, reinstalled the drivers etc. I did go to the wireless adapter website and checked to make sure the drive is current. I removed and recreated that wireless connection etc. I am ready to get rid of this laptop. My daughter needs it for university and it just disconnects all the time. Want to mention that wired is ok.

I agree with Sudo15, you can revert to Windows 8.0 or you can try the 8.1 Update. The drivers are the issue here.
I should also state that the wireless behavior varies. There are networks where the connection loss is less acute (at work).

It may be okay at university as their connections tend to be plug in the wall jobs, although I think some students do get themselves a router so they can use wireless, but the best solution would probably be to revert to Win 8.0 which would mean backing up any personal files and reinstalling any programs - not sure how you would reactivate Office if that has been paid for.

I may try going back to 8.0, but for now I will take the laptop back for repairs. It is only 3 months old so is still under warranty. Never had a problem like this before. I always like ASUS products as they have always been reliable, I guess my luck has run out.

Warranties don't normally cover software and if it still works okay when reverted to Win 8.0 then that would likely confirm that it is a driver problem.

May be worth contacting ASUS tech support for advice as it's not the first case I've come across where drivers have been okay in Win 8.0 but problematic in 8.1.

Should it be anything else that is installed on the computer that is conflicting, you could run it for a while in Safe Mode with Networking and then in a clean boot should anything improve, but with the disconnections being of an intermittent time scale - it may need some patience.

The reason you've never had a problem like this before is probably because you've never met the likes of Win 8.1 before and these sort of problems probably account for the majority of customer resistance to 8/8.1.

I may try going back to 8.0, but for now I will take the laptop back for repairs. It is only 3 months old so is still under warranty. Never had a problem like this before. I always like ASUS products as they have always been reliable, I guess my luck has run out.

I doubt it's the hardware. I am pretty sure it's Windows and, of course, Asus drivers. If this is an Intel adapter, I lay the blame on Intel, whose latest driver didn't fix my wireless issue.

I don't have the Intel adapter, I believe I have the Atheros AR9485 Wireless Network Adapter and when I check, the driver I have is the latest. Asus support was also at a loss. Searching for drivers shows Atheros AR9485 WLAN Driver v10.0.0.26 as the latest, I will try that one and see if it make a difference.